Further Links Contact Us Search Help

Syllabus | Exams | Assessment | Glossary | Site reviews | Careers

Food Technology

Home > Food Technology > The Australian Food Industry > Aquaculture in Australia

Food technology

Australian food industry

Aquaculture in Australia

In the core strand, The Australian food industry, you will examine the sectors of the Australian food industry. One of the sectors is agriculture and fisheries. One aspect of fisheries is the emergence of the aquaculture industry in Australia. Aquaculture is a means of ensuring that the world's marine stocks are able to survive into the next century. The information in this tutorial will allow you to investigate recent developments in the agriculture and fisheries sector.

Outcomes

This material addresses aspects of the following syllabus outcome:
H1.2 A student examines the nature and extent of the Australian food industry

Source: Board of Studies NSW, Stage 6 Food Technology Syllabus, Preliminary and HSC Courses (1999)

Activity

Read the following article from the journal Food Australia and complete the questions.

Aquaculture in Australia, Food Australia, Vol 51, No 3, March, 1999, pp. 100­101.

1.	What is aquaculture?
2.	List examples where aquaculture is successfully supplementing wild species supplies.
3.	Why is scientific understanding of all aspects of aquaculture essential?
4.	Why are they saying, "we have to farm our fish"?
5.	Before aquaculture begins to reach its true potential, what six main challenges must it overcome?
6.	How is the production of domesticated Pacific oysters being assisted? What are the benefits?

Answers for activity

1.	Aquaculture is the farming of any aquatic organisms, including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants.
2.	Australian fish farms already produce many of our prawns and most of our oysters, salmon and trout, also mussels, yabbies, eels and abalone through farming.
3.	Scientific understanding of all aspects of aquaculture is essential to ensure Australia's aquaculture industry and other aquaculture ventures develop on a sustainable basis, while maximising employment opportunities and economic returns to the nation.
4.	We have to farm our fish to guarantee a regular supply of high quality product. Australia does not have enough seafood to satisfy domestic and export markets.
5.	The challenges it must overcome are: breeding, rearing, feeding, health, environment and product quality.
6.	The production of domesticated Pacific oysters is being assisted through discovered evidence of a single gene that results in faster-growing, meatier oysters. This will assist the production of domesticated Pacific oysters with desirable features such as high growth rates, well shaped shells, and more meat within the shells. This will improve the viability of the Australian industry, helping it to compete more effectively with New Zealand products in domestic markets and to expand further into Asia export markets.